This year will be ESRI UC trip #11 for yours truly… a tradition of mine is to share tips, tricks, and down-right useful stuff with other GISusers that will be taking in North America’s largest GIS conference. And so, read on for some social media pointers to ESRI UC related Twitters, blogs, and other resources. We’ve also got a number of tips that I’m sure you’ll find handy.

• ESRI supports a number of official blogs - you can locate RSS feeds for all of them here at http://www.esri.com/blogs/index.html
• Interested in ArcGIS Server developments? Follow the ArcGIS Server Team blog at http://blogs.esri.com/Dev/blogs/arcgisserver/
• Interested in some unbiased opinion on ESRI and ESRI software related matters? Then check out the James Fee Blog http://www.spatiallyadjusted.com/
• A developer’s can’t miss is the EDN (ESRI Developer Network) - stay abreast of news at http://edn.esri.com/
• Interested in ArcPad? Be sure to follow the ArcPad Team Blog http://arcpadteam.blogspot.com/
• Follow ESRI UC on Twitter (@esriuc) - http://twitter.com/ESRIUC
• See what people are saying about the ESRI UC via Twitter by searching #esriuc - http://search.twitter.com/search?q=esriuc

Remember, the official Twitter hashtag for the conference is #ESRIUC

If your interested, you can easily use search.twitter.com to create a handy RSS feed of “esriuc” related Tweets and have them posted on your blog or website!

If this is your first year then check out the ESRI UC insider for some great pointers:
http://blogs.esri.com/Info/blogs/ucinsider/default.aspx - in particular, see this article for first timers

Official ESRI UC facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Official-ESRI-UC/44064582166?ref=ts

If you post images on Flickr, be sure to tag them with “esriuc” (the official show tag) - see all images on Flickr tagged esriuc at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/esriuc/

People taking photos are encouraged to consider snapping pics of a LizardTech Lizard while at the UC… enter your photo and you could win a cool GPS! See this Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/lizardtech/ and people wil have a chance to vote for their favorite. More details available online at http://www.lizardtech.com/esri2009/

Unofficial LinkedIn ESRI UC Group page - http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=150546

Finally, for anything and everything else, keep tabs on the official ESRI UC homepage at http://www.esri.com/events/uc/index.html
You can use this resource to submit a question about the event, plan your agenda (this is a MUST do - don’t wait until you get there!). You can also locate official ESRI UC social bookmarks and social media resources here - see http://www.esri.com/events/uc/participate/online.html

When planning to head to the airport, recall that you can use Google to easily find the status of your flight - simply search “Airline + flight number” example “Southwest 452″. For a fine mobile travel application that I wouldn’t be without, checkout details of Worldmate or Psiloc World Traveler - details in this blog posting: http://blog.gisuser.com/?p=4547

My personal tips:

• take some comfortable shoes (you’ll need them!) and remember, with 12,000+ geographers in the area Sandals are OK!
• use the ESRI conference agenda planner before you go - this is a huge time saver
• Socialize! Go to as many social events as you can: Sunday night you can mingle along the Gaslamp, check out dick’s Last resort patio frequently for people just blowing into town - I’ll be there! Monday night take in the Map Gallery; Tuesday and Wed there will be many vendor sponsored socials and parties… plan to stay out late these nights - it’s worth it! Thursday night is the HUGE ESRI party with great music, loads of food, and amazing fireworks; Friday if your still around you can check out a Padres game
• consider adding all-you-can-eat data plan to your mobile plan if you don’t already have it.. a tip… T-Mobile will let you add then remove plan as you want so really, you only need to add it for a week! Make use of Free Wi-Fi!
• share a cab to/from the airport with another attendee… I’m sure you can meet someone to connect with!
• Get your badge and registration material on Sunday if you cn so you can avoid long lineups.
• plan on taking in the plenary session for the entire day on Monday - you won’t be dissapointed!
• don’t forget your business cards!
• Tweet! You can follow me on Twitter while I’m at the UC by following @gletham

See also this article:
Preparing For the 2007 International ESRI User Conference

A few Fun Moments Captured at the 2008 International ESRI User Conference
http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/15338/2/

A free, San Diego Gaslamp District Map {PDF}
http://www.gisuser.com/content/view/15259/2/

Finally, be sure to consult our dedicated 2009 ESRI UC news section on GISuser where you’ll find PR, special announcements, details of parties, contests and much more - see http://www.gisuser.com/content/category/1/299/2/ and be sure to share your news or tips with us!

Follow GISuser from the 2009 ESRI UC at the following:

Blog - http://blog.gisuser.com

Twitter - http://twitter.com/gletham & http://twitter.com/gisuser

Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/gisuser

Qik (live video streaming) - http://www.qik.com/gisuser